Zoo and Animals Preschool Activities and Printables

Preschool and Kindergarten zoo and animals activities, crafts, and printables. Elephants! Bears! And Tigers! Oh, no! Oh, yes! Zoos are places where people can go to see all different kinds of animals. These animals come from all over the world and give us the chance to see them and learn about where they come from. Zoos are also places to help animals who are almost extinct. Zoos help animals while allowing people to see them in their natural environments. With our ideas, zoo-inspired crafts, activities, emergent reader booklets, educational games, and worksheets, your children can explore and learn about the animal kingdom.

Zoo and Zookeeper Activities and Crafts

Read the bookIf I Ran the Zoo by Dr. Seuss. (Dr. Seuss’s father was a zookeeper.) After reading the book, ask children to list the different jobs people do at the zoo. Let children make a zookeeper hat and let them share with the group what they would do if they ran a zoo.

If I ran the zoo I would _____. Have students draw a picture illustrating a zookeeper at work and write about it.

Zoo Keeper Song(Tune: Down by The Station)

Down at the zoo
Early in the morning,
You can see the animals
Standing in a row.
You can see me feeding
One and then other.
I am the zoo keeper,
Watch me go!

Down at the zoo
Early in the morning,
You can see the animals
Standing in a row.
You can see me cleaning
One and then other.
I am the zoo keeper,
Watch me go!

Who lives in a zoo?
Ask children if they have ever been to a zoo and what animals they saw. What were their favorites? Talk to children about the different habitats that animals need and how zoos have to make their surroundings seem real for the animals. Make a chart on the board with the title "Zoo Animals" and "Not a Zoo Animal." Ask students to name different animals and classify the animal as either a zoo animal or not. Talk about the differences and similarities between the two classifications. Discuss with children why they think zoos were created and how the animals get to the zoo.

Pretend to be an animal at the zoo. Let children guess what zoo animal you are thinking of and give them hints. "The animal I'm thinking of is very tall, has four legs, and brown spots." a giraffe! Encourage children to act the animal out.

Walk and stomp like an elephant. Gallop like a zebra. Waddle like a penguin. Dance like a monkey. Roar like a lion. Run like a cheetah. Slither like a snake. Jump like a kangaroo.

Feed the AnimalsCut out pictures of different types of food that zoo animals eat (leaves, fruit, meat, etc.) and glue on to construcion paper to make cards. Provide toy zoo animals and let children feed the zoo animal with the correct food.

Z for Zoo

Let children practice writing the letter “z” and the word zoo. Write the letters Z, O, O on index cards and let children spell the word zoo.

Zoo Animals

Collect lots of natural history magazines from second-hand bookstores and thrift shops. Place them on a table with craft paper, scissors, and glue sticks. Let children cut out the animals and their habitats to make zoo animal collages.

We Are Going to the Zoo
(Tune: London bridge)

We are going to zoo,
To the zoo, to the zoo.
We are going to the zoo,
Won't you join us too?

We will find some chimpanzees,
Chimpanzees, chimpanzees.
we will find some chimpanzees,
Swinging from the trees.

We will look for kangaroos,
Kangaroos, kangaroos.
We will look for kangaroos,
Hopping at the zoo.

Animal-Picture BooksProvide each child with several sheets paper, folded and stapled into a book. Encourage children to glue animal pictures cut out from magazines or their own drawn creations into their books, and then make up stories and share them with the group.

Read the book 1, 2, 3 to the Zoo and let children name the different zoo animals. Use our zoo animal printables or word wall cards, and place the animals on the board. Write their names beside them. Together, say and read the names of the animals.

Use our 1, 2, 3 to the Zoo activities and game to count zoo animals.

Extension:
Cut the Zoo Animals Word Wall cards in to two pieces (animal picture and animal word). Review the zoo animals names and let children match the word with the pictures. Let children practice writing the names of the zoo animals.

Place the zoo animal cards inside a bag. Write the sentence "I went to the zoo and saw a _____" or for younger children " I see a _____" on the board. Ask one child to pick out a card from the bag and place it on the board in the empty space. Then read the sentence aloud. Next place the word card "and" beside the first animal. Let another child take out a card and place it at the end of the sentence. Continue until you have five animals on the board.

Animal MemoryMake two copies of the zoo animal cards. Laminate and cut out. Place the cards face down on the table and let children find the matching pairs.

Block CenterSet out zoo animals (plastic or stuffed) in the block area. Encourage your children to use the blocks and sticks to build cages for the animals.

Zoo Animals Circle Time and Large Group Activities

Zookeeper What do You See? Circle Game

Place the zoo animal cards inside a basket or bag. Children are standing apart with enough room to move around. Pretend to be the zookeeper. The children chant " Zookeeper, zookeeper what do you see?" Then pick out a zoo animal card from the bag and say "I see an elephant walking next to me." (a snake slithering, a kangaroo jumping, a lion roaring, etc.)

Guess the AnimalPlace zoo animal cards or animal crackers inside a bag or a bowl. Invite a child to pick a card and act out the animal for the other children to guess. When the children guess the animals the child gets to eat the animal cracker!

100 Zoo Animals
I went to the zoo
And what did I see?
100 animals
Looking at me.

There were
10 tall giraffes, eating from the trees.
10 silly monkeys, scratching on their knees.
10 sleeping snakes, lying in the sun.
10 munching elephants, eating peanuts one by one.
10 leaping tigers, performing in the shows,
10 pink flamingos, standing on their toes.
10 grouchy bears, trying to get some sleep.
10 happy hippos, in the water deep.10 roaring lions, walking two by two.10 galloping zebras, all living in the zoo.

Favorite Zoo Animal Vote and Graph itHave the children vote for their favorite zoo animal and graph the results. Which animals did the most children like the best?

Zoo Animals Science Activities

Zoo Animals Habitat and Small Word PlayUse your sand table to create an area for water (blue fabric), an area of sand, an area of dirt, and an area with grass. Provide small toy zoo animals. Talk about the different habitats and needs for each animal and how the zoo has to try to make a healthy enviroment for the animals. Let children place the animals in their correct habitat.

Animal Prints
Use our Zoo Animals Skin, Fur, Prints Matching cards and let children match the animals to their prints.

Animal Characteristics GraphingChoose a zoo animal card and let children describe the body parts and physical characteristics of the animals, e.g., fur, feathers, scales. Make a graph with the different animals and their characteristics.

Free Zoo Animals Coloring Pages and Printables

Do you hear the (lion, bear, elephant, toucan, snake)
when you're at the zoo?
They make this sound
When the talk to you (make the matching animals sound)

Zoo Animals Crafts

Paper Plate Lion
Paint the top of a paper plate a brown/orange color. Let dry. Cut slits about 1-inch wide and 2 inches long all the way around the edge of the plate. "Fluff up" the lion's mane by gently folding alternate strips up and down. Glue on pom-poms for the cheeks (brown) and nose (red). Add whiskers by cutting pipe cleaners, each about 6 inches long. Put a generous amount of glue on one end of each pipe cleaner piece and poke 3 or 4 under the bottom side of each cheek. Hang up your lion or add a stick and turn him into a puppet.

Other Great Preschool and Kindergarten Zoo Theme Activities and Links: